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Cybersecurity Under Siege: Protecting Yourself From Rising Attacks
May 15, 2025
Cybersecurity attacks are rising! We explore healthcare breaches, state vulnerabilities, and presidential actions. Learn from a CIA hacker's tips: 2FA, notifications, security apps, and minimizing apps to protect ourselves. #Cybersecurity #DataBreach #Privacy #CyberAttack #OnlineSecurity #SecurityTips #TechNews #HIPAA #Ransomware #NBCNews
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Cyber security attacks are rising,
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affecting health care agencies. One of
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the nation's largest health care
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providers is under siege, local
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communities. Some services for the city
0:11
were impacted after a cyber security
0:14
breach today and even schools in the
0:16
classroom, schools cyber attack. Just
0:19
weeks ago in Massachusetts, Fall River
0:22
schools hit with a ransomware attack.
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Mayor Paul Kugan of Fall River spoke
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with our affiliate WJ. I believe they
0:29
got into an old website and were able to
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access information that might have been
0:34
a little bit dated but is still valuable
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to the district. The mayor also saying
0:38
the data breach included names,
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addresses, and even social security
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numbers. A threat we all face in an age
0:45
of increasing cyber attacks. I don't
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know if you're seeing the text spam
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about the toll being unpaid or I've
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gotten that multiple times. If you're
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getting it multiple times and the
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frequency is so high, there's one
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reason. It's working. I'm sure you've
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gotten it too. It says you've got an
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outstanding toll and asks you to exit
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out of the text message and paste a link
1:05
into your browser. That's when they get
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access to your information, says Eric
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Cole, a cyber security expert and former
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CIA hacker. They're not going to go in
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and basically uh steal your identity.
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That's too visible. What they're going
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to do is over the next six or seven
1:21
months is they're going to take5 or $10
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from your account and showing it as
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interest. And they hope you won't
1:29
notice. Many of us pour over our credit
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card statements with a fine tooth comb.
1:33
And it all comes as the president moves
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to decentralize cyber security with an
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executive action seeking to shift more
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responsibility to the states to achieve
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efficiency. Because you're basically
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saying we don't want to handle it at a
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federal level. We want to push it down
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to a state level, but then we're going
1:49
to pull back funding so you actually
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have less money and less resources to
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put against it. We reached out to the
1:54
White House about the critique and an
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NST spokesperson responded, saying in
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part this, "The American people deserve
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decisive and unambiguous action during
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crisis, not red tape or prolonged
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disruptions to their way of life,
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adding, we will institute common sense
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approaches." The healthcare industry has
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consistently faced the most data
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breaches with 2023 and 2024 being the
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worst years yet, according to an
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analysis from the HIPPA Journal. Couple
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that with a nonprofit center for
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internet security saying only about half
2:27
of states in a nationwide cyber security
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review met recommended security levels.
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These attackers are not rogue entities.
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They do marketing. They do competitive
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research. They do analysis. So these
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attacks are not just random targets
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anymore. And if you aren't the target,
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you can get swept up in it. So how do we
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protect ourselves? According to Eric
2:49
Cole, our cyber security expert and
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former CIA hacker, he says there's four
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primary ways to protect ourselves. One
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is two-factor authentification. So when
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you're logging into your bank accounts
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andor your credit card accounts, you
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have two factor authentication to make
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sure you have the utmost um security.
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Number two is uh having your
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notifications turned on. So, every time
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you're spending on your credit card or
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your bank accounts, um you're making
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sure you're getting a ping on your phone
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saying, "Hey, this is what you just
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spent." So, if something suspicious
3:17
comes through, you can identify it
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immediately. Number three is purchasing
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a security application for your device.
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And then number four is minimizing apps.
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Something I didn't know, by the way,
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which is the more apps you have on your
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phone, for instance, the more vulnerable
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you are. So, just a lot of things to
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consider here when thinking about how to
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protect ourselves and our devices in an
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age of cyber attacks. Thanks for
3:41
watching. Stay updated about breaking
3:43
news and top stories on the NBC News app
3:46
or follow us on social media.
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